Arsenal: Aaron Ramsey best all-purpose midfielder in Premier League

Arsenal top goal contributor isn’t just Alexandre Lacazette, it’s Aaron Ramsey too, and he may top more than just the Gunner’s midfield chart.

Arsenal have been blessed by the continued resurgence of Aaron Ramsey, who took the promising start of last years 3-4-2-1 introduction and turned it into pure brilliance this year. He has shot off to three goals and six assists thus far into the season, placing him into some elite company.

It’s hard judging Ramsey alongside peers, because not many midfielders do as many things as he does so well. He is creating with the best creative midfielders and defending with the best defensive midfielders.

So by that standard, you have to put his creative numbers up against fellow creators and his defensive numbers against fellow defensive midfielders. This in and of itself sets him apart as a truly special midfielder.

The only other player with such a comprehensive skillset at the top is perhaps Kevin De Bruyne or Paul Pogba, but the latter has missed a huge portion of the season and has some skewed numbers because of it.

However, when stacked up against the best (via Squawka.com), Ramsey holds his own. In terms of assists, his .49 per 90 is right up there with De Bruyne’s or David Silva’s .56 and Christian Eriksen’s .22. When it comes to goals scored, it’s more of the same. Ramsey is scoring a .24 goals per game. That’s right next to De Bruyne’s .28, Eriksen’s .22 and Silva’s .14. It’s like this across the attacking board.

In terms of hard, attacking stats, therefore, you can’t do much better than Ramsey. So let’s turn our attention to the defensive side. Throw out all of the midfielders mentioned before, because their defensive numbers are laughable next to Ramsey’s. Except for De Bruyne, but his are still lesser than the Welshman.

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For this example, I did my best to bring in deep-lying midfielders that weren’t just ball-winners like N’Golo Kante or Idrissa Gueye, while also trying to focus on top-tier teams. So I used Fernandinho, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Nemanja Matic. And guess what? More of the same.

The amount of ball winning plays per 90 ranged from 2.33 (Jordan Henderson) to 3.54 (Tiemoue Bakayoko). Aaron Ramsey is at 2.85. Higher than Nemanja Matic’s 2.81.

In terms of percentage of duels won, it ranged from 36.62% (Henderson – why did I even include him?) to 48.30% (Matic). Ramsey was at 47.10%.

So what we have here is a midfielder whose goal contributing numbers stand up to the best in that category, but whose defensive numbers crush their’s. Meanwhile, his defensive numbers stand up to the best deep-lying playmakers, but his offensive numbers crush theirs. There isn’t much else that needs to be said. Ramsey ranks up there with the De Bruyne’s and the Paul Pogba’s who do it all in the midfield.

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And, by numbers alone, and until Pogba’s minutes start to level out with his numbers, no one does it better.

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